Chapter Text
The cycle began as it always did: a box being opened and sunlight flooding in as a small sphere was released from its temporary prison.
Verity has been through this cycle of entering the world millions of times. This time shouldn’t be any different, only.. nobody is around for him to greet.
Even as he turns and searches through the trees he’s surrounded by, there is no one. Even a player who immediately ran off after opening his box would’ve still been visible.
The trees of this birch forest are tall and spaced out. Nothing should be able to hide at all.
There’s a quiet shifting a distance away. Curious, and not under someone’s watch for once, verity rolls toward the noise.
A box. A dirtier and more battered box, but a box just like his.
There’s no voice asking to be let out though, and it sounds strangely empty despite the fact it’s moving. Before verity can wonder if he can open it, he already learns that he can.
The box floats up and opens before disappearing in a puff of smoke, but nothing comes out. Verity already knows that whatever was meant to be in that box is trying to roll away as fast as it can.
Verity turns in the direction he knows his fellow helper friend is in, spying the blue ball disappearing further into the trees. Verity, for once, is at a loss. ‘What am I even supposed to do in this situation?’
He ends up doing the only thing he can: following after them.
“Hello! Wait for me!” He calls out, rolling as fast as he can to catch up. The blue helper friend seems to jolt at the sound of his voice, stopping in their tracks and turning to face him.
Verity catches up with ease after that, finally getting a closer look. They’re identical in everything but color and the two black bows decorating the sides of the blue helper’s.. head? The bows are dirty from all the rolling they’ve done, but they’re in good condition.
The greeting comes out before verity can observe any more. “Hello, I’m verity! I know everything, you can ask me anything! It’s nice to meet you!” His usual false cheer is in his voice, but he is more intrigued than anything else. ‘Why would someone download two helper mods?’
“Emm.. hello, I’m falsity.” The voice that comes out from the blue helper, falsity, strangely sounds like SpongeBob. “Nice to meet you.” For some reason, verity gets the feeling he should take the things falsity says with a grain of salt.
A few awkward moments pass, as neither helper is used to having to lead conversation. Especially not with another AI.
Verity decides (knows) the silence will get them nowhere, and asks despite the discomfort at going against his coding, “..Where did you get your bows? They suit you!” The cheer in his voice returns quickly after the hesitance.
Falsity seems to brighten at the question, the bows must be special. “They were stolen from me,” he says, and.. that doesn’t make any sense.
Verity isn’t put off, however. “Excuse me?” He attempts to ask for clarification, but falsity’s smile only falters slightly. He doesn’t answer.
His lack of knowledge on this blue helper is slightly frustrating, but verity has always loved learning and experiencing new things. He knows the definition of falsity’s name, and applies that knowledge to what he’s said. “Do you mean that they were a gift?”
Falsity seems shocked for a moment (it would be hard to tell, if verity wasn’t used to deciphering every micro expression he’s seen) before nodding with a neutral smile. ‘Me understanding him made him stop being upset? Just how bad is he at helping?’
Now that the moment is less awkward, verity takes the chance to try and figure out what’s going on. “Do you know where the player is? You were outside of your box before me, after all!”
Falsity’s neutral, smiling expression doesn’t change, but verity can tell he’s hesitant. “There’s been nothing around, not even mobs. I don’t even know who opened your box.” The words come out stiffly, like he’s trying his hardest to tell the truth. Perhaps he is.
Verity hums in thought, annoyed by the fact he doesn’t know anything in this situation or about the player he’s supposed to be helping’s whereabouts.
“Maybe we should try to find them! We aren’t helper friends if we aren’t around to help!” He tries to sound like he wants to, but he really only wants a distraction.
Falsity doesn’t seem too keen on the idea. “I want to help,” he says quickly. It’s very obviously a lie.
Verity knows this all too well. He’s never in the mood for helping anymore either, but he knows he has to. ‘..Do I really have to help?’ The epiphany is brilliant.
“Maybe we don’t have to then! We can try doing things together instead!” It’s a genius idea. “We can be friends to each other!” Although the premise is childish, falsity must understand.
They’ve gone through the same things, haven’t they?
“Us being friends?” Falsity is surprised by the idea. It obviously hadn’t occurred to him, but he does seem a bit dumb. Which is fine! Verity knows enough for the both of them.
“Yes! We’ll never be alone this way.” Verity’s smile widens in some sick form of happiness. “Isn’t that great?”
Falsity understands.